Yes, this has been the advice from the school counselors as well as the couple of ‘admissions consultants’ we’ve reached out to - for D22, S24 and now D26. “Take both tests. Take them multiple times. ReviewCommon Data Set by School. If SAT and ACT are well above 50%, and definitely above 75% submit both. If only one is, then only submit that one. If neither is, submit neither.”
Yep, and this may explain why, despite the reported/recorded drop in scholastic performance (End of Grade tests etc)during the Pandemic Years, the ACT and SAT ranges for many schools admitted students stayed the same or in some cases seems like the numbers have gone up some.
Yes, and this is demonstrated by the middle 50 for TO schools generally being higher than pre Covid when most required testing. It really does seem dependent though. We have seen schools themselves say (1) submit if you are above the 50th percentile and (2) submit if you are in the 25-75 range ..so they themselves don’t all seem to judge the same way. But I would also think a score above your school average (depending how reported - our high school reports mean and 25th & 75th percentiles, not sure if that’s standard) could be helpful.. it’s hard to know. (This is probably not very helpful commentary lol)
Btw, part of our college counselor talk last night was that students who submit test scores generally have higher admit rates than those who don’t, despite schools saying they don’t penalize for non-submission. I’m guessing that it’s a finger on the scale -for example, if two students look very similar but one has submitted a good score and the other hasn’t submitted anything.
Apparently the % of students submitting scores overall is going up now, though. I don’t remember the number the counselor quoted but it’s somewhere over half now.
I think the test-mandatory schools are still quite a small percent of overall applications. It seems to be at least partly that in an environment of general grade inflation, students are looking to validate their GPAs more objectively.
It is possibly skewed in California for those aiming instate only as all CA publics and some CA privates are test-blind. So some people just don’t bother with them, but I’m not sure how much this affects the overall number of test takers in CA. Then there are other states where I think taking ACT is required for high school graduation?
I can tell you that the national merit cutoffs this year seemed quite a bit higher than expected, which means the scores skewed higher – I know that’s PSAT and not SAT, but I believe it was digital last fall?
My D26 took the digital SAT in June 2024, which was maybe the second (or third?) administration of the digital test. She mentioned that knowing how to use all the tricks on Desmos (the provided online calculator) made the math sections way easier. And then, they took away the long passages on the English reading comp section and replaced them with shorter passages with one question each. It’s still not easy, mind you, but the shorter format really worked for my focus-challenged kid.
This is all anecdotal, but my perception is that yes, the digital test is easier.
I think a large part of it is the widespread access to testing tutoring. There are countless ways to receive coaching, both for a fee and free of charge. Many of these tutors give kids ways to “beat” the test. In addition, students are retaking the tests multiple times with feedback from College Board on the incorrect answers. I would imagine this would lend itself to an increased comfort level and better performance.
Yes,it was digital. There was certainly a lot of surprise at how much some of the cutoffs rose.
re SAT. I thought I read somewhere that they adjust the scores to take into account if a particular test is relatively easy or harder? Looking at our school profile, just updated, the mean SAT score for 2025 is a bit (20 points) higher than 2023. But, there were notably more NMSF and commended students in 2025 (that would have been for 2024 psat obviously) than 2023, so I’m inclined to think that there was maybe better preparation too? (Edit: i just noticed that while the 50th and 75th percentiles rose, the 25th percentile actually fell by quite a lot - I assume that’s a by product of the differentiated easier vs harder math section?)
The only way to judge the psat that I can see is from NM accolades, which at our school have risen notably in the past couple of years vs 2022-2024 (so 2021-2023 PSATs)
D26 plan is to submit if within the 25-75% range. Not sure if it’s the “right” thing to do, but it’s what she wants to do after hearing pros and cons. Some of her schools she is on the 25% mark too. So will be interesting to look back and see how things turn out. But her reasoning is that her SAT is above her schools average and supports her GPA (she is not a high stats kid, to put things in context). She is worried that if she doesn’t submit, then the college may assume her score is MUCH lower than it is.
My thought is, if the college doesn’t accept her for her own merit, including SAT score, then it wasn’t the right school. At her reach school, she is well below the average SAT and will not be submitting to that one.
Appreciate input if the above reasoning is way off base. I saw someone above say that some schools want it submitted if it is 25-75 and others only if more than the 50%. But how do we know which ones are which?
Also chiming in on the judgements about lists - we get the side eye when we say she is applying to some in-state and some out-of-state (we just keep it vague like that when asked). Because we are in a state where in-state tuition is on the low-end, people think it’s foolish to go out of state. But we are not of the belief that college is ONLY about the degree. And finding the right fit, which may be out of state at a place she can experience different weather, different culture, different politics, and meet many from around the country, as opposed to sub 10% from out-of-state, is something we want for her, if she so chooses. And we can afford it. But I find it weird that people take such an interest in (and judge) what we do with our money. Somehow it is unacceptable for me to say that to them though, despite them being the ones asking and raising their eyebrows at our choices.
As another point of reference, D19 supplied what was an ACT at the 25th percentile to her reach (it was a little above the high school average, but not hugely so - 1 or 1.5, something like that). She got admitted. When they published the stats for her year, she ended up being one point below the 25th percentile for that intake. My conclusion- if the rest of your application is solid enough and you want to submit, submit. (Although testing was required for D19, she had the option of submitting AP scores across a few subjects instead of SAT/ACT, but as she had no idea what the comparators looked like there she didn’t want to do that.)
and not to be cynical or anything, but most of the time, once HS graduation happens, it’s not like people are going to be asking all the time how is your kid’s college experience going. But while the kid is a high school senior, it feels like an almost constant stream of curiosity from people.
The people who are passive-aggressive about it really get on my nerves. But I’ve learned that if one answers WHAT they’re asking (instead of responding to the TONE of the question), then the person gets off of their judgmental tone and they back off. Meanwhile, of course, the entire time I’m thinking, “Wow, you are a judgmental butthead. I don’t like you very much right now.”
My D26 almost did not go to meet a college counselor for a school that she was interested in because she had a Calculus test during the period that the counselor was at her school. Luckily her teacher allowed her to take the test earlier so she could go. Her reasons for almost not going 1) she went last year 2) she has visited the campus already and spent a week there this summer 3) the schools CDS states it does not track demonstrated interest. She is very glad she went because another teacher that happened to pop in to the room when she was there mentioned something to my D26 that caught the counselor’s attention. Based on what she heard she actually asked my D26 to both email her and put details in the extra section about her involvement in a particular activity that she has listed in her application. The counselor stated that it was exactly what they were looking for in their full ride” scholarship. A couple other things to note were she told them the exact ACT, they wanted them to submit. The CDS has 25 ACT listed as the 25th percentile, the students were told submit anything 24 and above. The counselor also indicated that the merit that given based on GPA ( they have a range) is also based on demonstrating interest. She is glad she took the test a day early!
This! It was so hard for my D26 to get a testing location in CA the first time she took it, and her top schools were test-free or test optional, so she decided to bail on testing all together and her counselors were very supportive. A number of kids at her private high school in CA have gone the same route.
What a great interaction! Also, the admissions officers who come to campus are often the very one assigned to read applications from that high school. Awesome that the visit worked out so well and was so informative.
